There Came Thunder in Heaven-Lent 9, 2022

The trumpets do not bring judgment, only herald it. The angels do not inflict judgment on their own choice. As created beings, they cannot be the source. You see, it’s a holy war and only God has the authority to send judgment upon mankind. Everything else is created by God and therefore has no authority in this holy war. Creation must solely obey God who commissioned them.

Revelation 8: 5 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake. 6 Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them.

And there came. “There came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.” It repeats. The first was in 4:5 when we entered the throne room and saw “From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder” (Revelation 4:5). God is the source. It’s here in 8:5, again in 11:19, and it is repeated one more time in 16:18-21.

That’s John’s Jewish background, his reluctance to mention God, or permit any man-like resemblance to God the Father. But “there came” tells us the Almighty is the source. It tells us that all the judgment is coming from the same divine holiness from 4:5—God’s holiness—which must judge evil.

There is no other way to remain holy than to wage war against evil. God can do no other.

The trumpets herald plagues that point the reader
toward the plagues upon Egypt
which became progressively more intense and dire:
water turning to blood, frogs, lice, flies, livestock pestilence, boils, hail, locusts,
darkness and finally, the killing of firstborn children.

Thunder from heaven. Plagues like Egypt.

Worth noting is that so far, the destruction announced by trumpet blasts, shofar of the holy war, harms only creation apart from mankind. Humanity, the pinnacle of creation, is reserved for last.

The first 4 trumpets result in 1/3 level destruction.

Trumpet #1 Hail and fire mixed with blood, Result: 1/3 of the earth and trees were burned, and all the green grass.

Trumpet #2 Huge mountain ablaze thrown into the sea. 1/3 of sea became blood, 1/3 of sea creatures died, and 1/3 of the ships were destroyed.

Trumpet #3 Great star blazing like torch falling from sky. Result 1/3 of rivers, springs of waters turned bitter.

Trumpet #4 Celestial events 1/3 of sun, moon, stars turned black. 1/3 day without light and 1/3 of night starless.

Then the 1/3 destruction notation pauses as an eagle appears and called to the earth’s inhabitants.

“As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in midair call out in a loud voice: “Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!” (Revelation 8:13)

To be continued…

Thought for today:

In the days of Moses in Egypt, the plagues only hardened Pharaoh’s heart. What is served by having 1/3 of creation apart from man afflicted?

See Exodus 8:15,32; 9:12, 34; 10:1, 20, 27; 11:10; 14:8

Why would God reserve the most severe of judgments, delaying until the last?
In the flood, He reserved a remnant. Why would destruction of man, wiping man off the face of the earth, be so grievous to God?

If you read the accounts in Exodus above you will see that Pharaoh hardened his own heart, but the Lord also hardened his heart. How is that possible?

Think about that pattern of hardened hearts. How does that inform that 1/3 destruction?

===

If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2022 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals continue to minister, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:

Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014.
Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations. We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17.
ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ. It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.
Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.
The theme for 2021 Lent Devotionals was how to live between two worlds while waiting for Christ’s return. Into the gap between the City of Man and its fixation upon sin and the City of God with its demand for holiness, two words minister peace: But God. Praise God for His intervention! They are archived beginning February 17, 2021.